Red Cross cleared of fraud over Bali survivors fund
Red Cross cleared of fraud over Bali survivors fund
Mary Longmore, Associated Press, Sydney, Australia
An independent audit on Friday cleared the Australian Red Cross of defrauding victims of the Bali bomb blasts, but said the charity could have better disclosed how it was spending millions of dollars in donations.
The audit by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers was commissioned by the Red Cross after complaints that it had not given victims of the Oct. 12 blasts enough of the A$14.8 million (US$9.8 million) raised through a public appeal.
The findings were published the day after "smiling bomber" Amrozi bin Nurhasyim was sentenced to death for his role in the bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Another 153 Australians were seriously injured, most of them with severe burns.
The Red Cross has helped 523 Australians affected by the bombing, with A$9.9 million ($6.5 million) allocated directly to victims and their families, of which A$5.5 million ($3.6 million) has been distributed, the audit said.
The auditors found the charity could have better communicated with the public on the progress and direction of spending but overall "coped remarkably well" given the size of the task.
The report questioned the funding of two projects; where A$500,000 ($330,000) was spent on research into a "spray-on skin" burn treatment and a disaster planning project at the Darwin Hospital. In the days after the bombings, the hospital in northern Australia was a vital staging post for survivors being flown home for treatment.
While these projects did not strictly meet the stated objectives of providing direct assistance to Australian victims and their families, there was no evidence of "fraud or misuse of funds," the firm said.
Red Cross vice chairman Brian Ward said the projects were considered to be sufficiently linked to the tragedy.
Australian Red Cross national chairman Rob O'Regan said the report clearly found the charity had acted with "honesty, efficiency and compassion."
"We acknowledge the inefficiencies in our processes and we'll do something about them," O'Regan told reporters. "We are not crooks...we tried to do our best in difficult circumstances."
The charity was criticized for allocating 10 percent of the fund toward administration, but it is now estimated only 4 percent would be needed.
The charity has said almost A$4 million ($2.6 million) had been spent in Australia on victims and victim programs and another A$322,000 ($209,300) in Bali. That left about A$10 million ($6.5 million), of which much had been committed to future victim programs in Australia, Bali and Indonesia.